Burdhwan: Robbing the poor to facilitate terror

Burdhwan, Feb 2: Two startling facts that have come to light during the probe into the Burdhwan blasts are that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen cadres were using a burqa factory and laptops awarded to poor students for their modus operandi.

In West Bengal's Beldanga, it was found that a burqa stitching unit had acted as a front for a bomb making unit. In the probe that is being carried out by the NIA in Assam, it has been found that laptops that were distributed to the poor were purchased by the JMB men to use it for their operations.

Behind the veil:

The JMB had adopted various techniques to keep their bomb factories going. While at Simulia an illegal madrasa had been set up to recruit cadres, in Beldanga the cadres had set up a burqa stitching unit, which acted as a front for terror activities.

During the interrogation of at least five cadres who are in the custody of the National Investigating Agency, it was found that the JMB had set up several such shops. These were done as per the advise of their handlers and also local contacts.

For three years, this stitching unit was operative. However, behind the shop was where the real activity took place.

The bigger intention was to ensure that the cadres were running legitimate businesses in West Bengal so that they did not catch the attention of the police. This worked well for them and in turn managed to dodge the police for a long time.

Robbing the poor:

The questioning of a key operative Sahanur Alom has revealed that in Assam, the JMB cadres were all linked through laptops. Alom said that he had visited villages where the Anundoram Barooah scheme was implemented.

Under this scheme the government gave the poor students laptops free of cost. Alom would tap such students and lure them into selling their laptops. Alom paid anything between Rs 1000 to Rs 2500 per laptop and then after picking it up, distribute it to the cadres.

Alom had purchased nearly 30 such laptops and had even sent a few of them to the cadres in Bangladesh, investigations have also revealed.

Next stop the politicians:

The NIA says that there has been a lot of information coming in which suggests the role played by politicians both in Assam and West Bengal which aided the JMB. Alom in particular has revealed the names of several politicians on a local level who helped carry out the operation.

As per the information the NIA has got, Alom kept in touch with the local politicians in Assam who were also instrumental in ensuring infiltration and providing voter identification cards to Bangladeshi infiltrators. These persons helped Alom a great deal since they were the ones who ultimately ensured the smooth passage of the JMB members between Bangladesh and India and also vice versa.